


Being A Parent

by Anonymous



Category: The Prom - Sklar/Beguelin/Martin
Genre: Father-Daughter Relationship, Fluff, Gen, I love Alyssa so much but she's only mentioned, i really don't know how to tag this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-06-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:42:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24844765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Summary: He looked at her, waiting anxiously for his answer and was taken back to a moment years ago. Of course, that day the question had been completely different to this one. But he felt his heart swell with love the same way it had then.I wonder if this is how parents feel, he thought.Or: Emma asks Barry an important question and he remembers a few other important moments in their relationship.(Also, Barry is a good dad)
Relationships: Alyssa Greene/Emma Nolan, Barry Glickman & Emma Nolan, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 40
Collections: Anonymous





	Being A Parent

**Author's Note:**

> It's Father's Day! And I'm a lesbian who has a bad relationship with their father. But I love the relationship Emma and Barry have so I wanted to write about them.

When Emma knocked on his door that afternoon, he was caught off guard. She always called ahead of time to let him know when she was coming, and lately she’d been so busy with planning that he hadn’t seen her in almost a month. The first thing he noticed when she walked in was how nervous she looked. Her hands were shaking and she wouldn’t meet his eyes. Immediately, his mind went into parent mode, ready to fix whatever was making her feel this way. He led her to the living room and sat on the couch. She remained standing and began pacing.

“Emma?” He asked. “What’s going on? What’s wrong?” She smiled at him, finally looking up, but it did little to soothe his worries.

“Nothing’s wrong,” she replied, speaking quickly. As she continued talking, she moved her hands around erratically. He was amazed that she didn’t hit anything around her. “I don’t even know why I’m so nervous about this. There’s no reason to be. It’s such a simple thing. It’s really not a big deal. So I don’t know why I’m freaking out over it.” He walked over to her and placed his hands on her shoulders, stopping her and making her look at him.

“You know you can tell me anything, honey. What is it? I haven’t seen you this nervous since before you proposed.”

“I know. I’m sorry, I don’t mean to worry you. But this is something I’ve been thinking about for a while now and I just keep putting it off. But I had the day off work and wedding planning, so I decided to just do this now.” He raised his eyebrows, waiting for her to say what was on her mind. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before speaking again. “Will you walk me down the aisle?” He froze, staring at her with wide eyes.

“What?” He whispered. She took a step back and looked at the floor again, wringing her hands together.

“Alyssa and I were talking about it and obviously her mom is walking her, and at first I didn’t really know who to ask. But then I thought about it and…” She shrugged. “There’s no one else I would want to do this.”

He looked at her, waiting anxiously for his answer and was taken back to a moment years ago.

A seventeen year old girl stood in front of him in a hotel room.

“Just… say yes.” She had said then. “There’s no one in the world I would rather go with.”

Despite only knowing each other for a short time at that point, he felt an overwhelming amount of love for her. Of course, that day the question had been completely different to this one. But he felt his heart swell with love for the girl the same way it had then. Although, she wasn’t really a girl anymore, he supposed. Almost ten years had passed since that day, but he still had a hard time seeing her as anything other than that scared, lonely teenager. _I wonder if this is what parents feel like _,__ he thought.

“Dad?” He blinked at her, bringing himself back to the present.

_Dad _,__ she called him. He remembered the first time that had happened, too.

It was the day she graduated from high school. He was in the audience with her grandmother on one side and DeeDee on the other. All of them were beaming and cheering loudly as they watched her walk across the stage to accept her diploma. Once they had finished taking all of the necessary pictures, he pulled her into a hug. “I am so proud of you, honey.” He told her.

“Thanks, Dad.” They both froze and Emma pulled away. They stared at each other, wide-eyed and neither said anything. At some point over the course of that year he had started thinking of her as his daughter, but he hadn’t realized that she considered him her dad. He felt his eyes fill with tears and he smiled softly at her, hugging her again. After that, she started calling him it more often. It was rare that she called him by his first name these days.

Much like that day, he smiled at her with tears in his eyes. He took her hands in his and said, “Emma, I would love to.” She smiled back at him.

“Really?” His heart broke at how surprised she sounded and, not for the first time, he mentally cursed her biological parents. He nodded and squeezed her hands lightly.

“Of course. You’re my daughter, I would be honored to give you away.” She hugged him tightly and he pressed a kiss to the top of her head. When they separated, he made a show of wiping away the few tears that had slid down his cheeks and she laughed, wiping her own away. “I hope you don’t have any lunch plans because I’ve decided we’re going out. It’s a special occasion, might as well treat ourselves, right?”

He grabbed his coat and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, walking out the door. As they walked, she started talking about the things she and Alyssa had already planned and things they were still trying to decide. He looked down at her and saw both the teenager she had been when he met her and the woman he had watched her grow into.

_Yes_ , he thought. _This_ is _how parents feel._

**Author's Note:**

> I'm actually pretty happy with how this came out. And I hope that other people are too. Let me know what you think!
> 
> And to anyone else who doesn't have a father, doesn't get along with their father, or has any other reason they don't like Father's Day, you're not alone. And it's okay to not want to celebrate anything today


End file.
